Katie Merrill on the Netroots

P.S. (0.00 / 0)

Lieberman lost his primary. Tester and Webb won. BART is cheap.

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by: Bob Brigham @ Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 15:00:56 PM CST

call a blogger's ethics panel (0.00 / 0)

Basically, Ellen Tauscher's former campaign manager defended Ellen Tauscher.  Can you say "unreliable narrator"?

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by: David Dayen @ Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 16:25:13 PM CST

my comment over at CMR (0.00 / 0)

HERE:

Welcome, oh self-professed luddite, to the blogosphere and thanks for (apparently) frequenting Calitics. There is one thing about the netroots that I do need to correct you on, however. Saying we have a litmus test for our issue du jour is actually mistaken. Lieberman's support for the war did not in and of itself fuel our enthusiasm for Ned Lamont; many Dems supported the war. It was the zeal with which he undermined Democrats time and time again that spurred the movement to challenge him. He'd go on Fox News and spew rightwing talking points about the war; he announced publicly that Democrats criticize the president during war time "at our nation's peril"; and he gave Bush political cover by allowing him to say "oh hey, look, Lieberman supports it, so it must be bi-partisan." In other words, he's been a horrible Democrat. Bi-partisanship is not a bad thing; Joe Lieberman's brand of it, however, is. For too long, we've seen Democrats run away from and apologize for the values that make us Democrats. Joe Lieberman is of this school and Ned Lamont was the antidote.

As for Tauscher, despite her having solid Democratic credentials on many issues as you note, she has shown herself to be similarly cozy with Bush. That's why her meeting with him on Friday rubbed people the wrong way, although it's my position that the moderate Dems invited to meet with the president would have been foolish to turn the invitation down; to me, a meeting does not a betrayal make. Another concern about Tauscher is her less than stellar record on fighting for the middle class (see bankruptcy bill.) Economic fairness more than even the war, I think, motivates the netroots and if Tauscher has even an ounce of fear about the trouble we might be able to cause her, she'd would do well to get on the economic populist bus and show us she's a real Democrat. Because as you full well know, her district is no longer red. And we've already made Harman a better and tougher Dem through the challenge of Marcy Winograd. The thing is, we can chew gum and walk at the same time. Please don't make the mistake of thinking primarying Tauscher is somehow our only priority; there are plenty of Republicans to take down. Democrats just need to know that they don't get a pass; like it or not, we will use the primary as a means to hold them accountable.

Let's all give Ms. Merrill a hi-die-ho, shall we?

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by: Todd Beeton @ Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 16:37:00 PM CST

Let's all give Ms. Merrill a hi-die-ho (0.00 / 0)

OK, so she was wrong about the netroots not mattering just after Lamont, McNerney, Tester and Webb (and many others) won their primaries. If the bloggers wouldn't have focused on beating Republicans, we wouldn't have won the Senate. And if bloggers had not focused on beating Lieberman, Iraq might not have been an issue in winning the house (DCCC chair Emanuel avoided talking about Iraq until after Lamont won). So she was pretty much wrong on the entire election season, but thinks we should listen to her about a subject she knows nothing about?

The great thing about the netroots is that it becomes what people make of it. Why she thinks she should have top-down control despite how stupid she looks is beyond me.

I think she should stick around, because hiring her is a clear sign of stooopid.

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by: Bob Brigham @ Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 17:09:30 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I went on (8.00 / 1)

a little rant about this here.

It is clear that Merrill is reading the blogs, both national and local, but fails to understand a few crucial lessons.  There are not a set limited amount of resources, the primary of Lieberman and Harman were a success and was not just about the war and a netroots primary cannot be successful without local grassroots support.

I am glad she is engaging.  Perhaps Tauscher will too.

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by: Julia Rosen @ Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 18:22:19 PM CST

great post, but (0.00 / 0)

It is clear that Merrill is reading the blogs, both national and local, but fails to understand a few crucial lessons.

I disagree. If she had been reading the blogs, she would understand the emerging CW that has been filtering to the top online for years -- but she failed to understand a single dynamic that drives the netroots. I think Katie Merrill been talking at the base for a long time and only started reading when it became clear that people now have a mechanism to point out how Tauscher was dead wrong on the war, has been a disaster on economic issues, and is poison for the grassroots in CA-10.

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by: Bob Brigham @ Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 18:38:27 PM CST

[ Parent ]

economics (0.00 / 0)

My primarmy motivation for saying that was her line about economics.  I don't think that blogosphere meme has made it into the media yet.  She could have only picked that up by reading the big guys.

You are right, she doesnt get the dynamics behind what is going on with regards to the blogosphere.  I am interested to see if this post turns into anything than a wagging finger post.

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by: Julia Rosen @ Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 19:09:45 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I think you should x-post your 10 points here (0.00 / 0)

Maybe getting more people to read them will save other people from looking out-of-touch.

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by: Bob Brigham @ Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 19:14:25 PM CST

[ Parent ]

economics (0.00 / 0)

My primarmy motivation for saying that was her line about economics.  I don't think that blogosphere meme has made it into the media yet.  She could have only picked that up by reading the big guys.

You are right, she doesnt get the dynamics behind what is going on with regards to the blogosphere.  I am interested to see if this post turns into anything than a wagging finger post.

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by: Julia Rosen @ Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 19:09:47 PM CST

[ Parent ]